St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-12
ONE OF THEM MUST GO.
Lamar Writes a Very Sharp Letter tothe
Commissioner of the Land
Office,
In Which he Says That He or Sparks
Must Quit the Bust
ness.
The Matter Submitted to the President
For His Consideration and
Decision.

WASHINGTON, Nov. II. - Secretary
Lamar late this afternoon sent a long
letter to Commissioner Sparks, of the
general land Office, replying very
sharply to communication from the
commissioner relative to the adjustment
of the Chicago, st. Paul, Minneapolis &
Omaha railway land grant, and inform
ing the commissioner in conclusion that
either he or the secretary must forth
with retire from the department. Sec
rotary Lamar opens his letter by saying;
''Sir: have Just received cOmmuni-
cation bearing this date, changed by
erasure and Interpolation from a previ-
GUS date, and addressed to me by yOu,a
will try to answer it at once, as the
matter to which it relates has already
been unnecessarily DELAYED too long.
Fortunately L will be able to do this
more conveniently because every point
submitted has been the subject of re-
consideration, having been presented
through the columns Of the press, whose
enterprise put them IN possession OF
these points before | was appriSed that
the decision referred to in your letter
had incurred your diSapproval and met
with your displeaSure. l have neither
INT OlSDOSlllOll W tntCl ulJOA
POLEMIC DISCUSSION
with a subordinate, nor to engage with
him at his instance in gladiatOriai
combat, especially so in matter in
which he has received my carefully
matured instructions, matter OF press
ing importance of my public duties. In
no other way can the functions of
great public department be success
fully executed than for the chief to
command and the subOrdinateS to obey.
Your excuse for this extraordinary
communication is that an argumenta-
tive report of yours as to the Mis-
souri,. Kansas d Texas railroad
has not been brought to my attention,
and that the Omaha cases were there
fore before me without citation Of au-
thOrity in support of your adjustment,
and without argument in behalf Of the
United States. In this last assumption
YOU are in error and the reverse of your
statement is the fact. You commence
by advising me that my decision in the
Omaha case, rendered, as you assert,
without the benefit of your counsel, was
in direct antagoniSm to any decision of
the department. You, however, imme-
diately
STATE IN SUBSTANCE
that prior to 1873 the governments rule
of adjustment had been uniformly in
accordance with the practice laid down
by me. and the identical report on the
Missouri, Kansas d Texas case, to
which you refer me for your argument
of suits by the government to recover
lands conveyed more than twelve years
since for precisely the character of lands
discussed in my decision of the Omaha
case. The only answer you furnish me
against this conceded practice of the
government is that no formal decision
appears of record upon the subject in
your office"
Here the secretary asks: Gam l to
understand that you do not consider the
uniform practice of the land department
for twenty-five years as having the force
and effect of decision unless the prin-
cipleS involved have been specifically
cOntroverted by some one, and freely
submitted for discussiOn?" He then
says he will not waste time
discussing certain decisions of
the supreme court, Attorney Gen
eral DeVanS and eX-Secretary
Schurz bearing on the Omaha case, or
in answering the commissioners criti-
cisms of the secretary'S earlier decis-
ions touching the same grant, and closes
as follows: ''lt therefore only remains
for me on this point to dispose of yOnr
elementary citations of legal maXimS by
informing you that they are, in my Opin-
ion, entirely irrelevant. The question
has not been, as you suppose, so much
THE LEGAL EFFECT
of proviso to a grant or a grant, but
what was the meaning of the prOviSO in
this particular grant? | gave you my
opinion of that meaning. and you have
shown me no shadow of reason for de-
parting from the conclusion there stated.
However we may differ in our cOnStruc-
ton of the statutes, or of decided eases,
and whatever variance may exist in our
conceptions of our public duties, / am
constrained to say TO you that
there is obviously one point upon which
We are in thorough accord. Upon this
point you have succeeded, in the COM
municatiOn before me, in riveting on
my mind a profound conviction. The
practical effect of your present course is
that you cannot execute my orders and
follow my instructions and cooperate
in my administration without surren-
dering opinions which should be con-
scientiously entertained with reference
to vitality important interests. | am as
sincere as you can be in the profound
conviction that my instructions to you
are in exact accordance with the law of
congress, in line with the decisions of
the courts, and in support of the SUI
premacy of law and its inviolability. 1t
is impossible for me in cOntraventiOn of
my own opinions, arrived at after
LONG AND ANXIOUS STUDY,
to surrender them to you. Under these
circumstances it is due to the orderly
and decOrous conduct of the govern
ment, to important public interests and
the common cause cOnfided in part to
our hands by the president and to the
personal regard that we should both
entertain for him, that he shall be al
lowed to choose secretary of the in
terror who will conform the admins
tratiOn to your opinions, or to
appoint a commissioner of public
lands who will administer his
bureau in harmony of spirit
and concert of action with the chief of
the department and without putting
him to the necessity of more decisive
action on his part. This alternative |
shall submit to the president at the
same time that this paper will be
handed to you"
Secretary Lamar addressed letter to
President Cleveland this evening. en-
closing copy of his letter to the COM
missioner. He asks the president to
decide which of the two officials shall
leave the department. Commissioner
Sparks, who has been confined to his
room for day or two quite i'll, declined
to talk about the matter tonight.